A New Kind of Wonder Woman
by S. K. Steven
Summary: Yureka! I've found the problem : . Steph returns after almost to years of being gone with a little bundle and a few other surprises.
1. Chapter 1

"Mmmmmm…" Stephanie Plum groaned as she heard a knock at her door. She lay there for just another second. Maybe the people would take a hint and go away, but then she heard the incessant pounding again, this time louder. She grumbled and opened one groggy eye to look at the clock. Five forty-freaking-five in the morning! What in the hell did these people want at this deadly hour? Deadly in the sense that if it was someone she didn't know she'd kill 'em.

She opened it ready to bitch, "What the fu….?" She stopped short, "officer…is there something wrong?"

"Are you one Miss Stephanie Plum?"

Her voice faltered, "Yes, I'm Stephanie Plum." Shit. This wasn't good.

"We regret to have a warrant to search the premises."

"Under what grounds?" It went with out saying that she was pissed.

"Possible kidnapping or harboring of a missing person. You're mother told us you might be hiding your sister."

She blew out a calming breathe of air. Thank God for small miracles. "Uh…I don't know if you know this but my mother is kind of a….well let's just say she worries a lot. Over exaggerates things."

"Miss, she says she's been gone since the night of November 3rd."

Her voice was controlled and sharp. Letting the two men know that they had better leave. "If my sister were here. You'd have found her. This apartment ain't big enough for three."

They turned there attention to the bassinet cradling a sleeping baby.

"I'm sorry Miss Plum but we have to ask. Where were you the night of November 3rd? When was the last time you heard from your sister?"

She had to stop and think about that. She hadn't seen any of her family since a rather horrific fight with her mom almost two years ago. Her mom had come on to her again about getting back with Morelli and settling down and quitting her job. The women had made the mistake of making a demand. "No daughter of mine will go around finding dead bodies and getting bombed." Stephanie never did respond well to demands. She'd told her, "fine then don't be my mother", and slammed the door on her way out.

"Not since about 2 years ago." That was the last time she saw her.

They gave her a puzzled look.

"I haven't been around for awhile."

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When the cops were gone she hopped into her black diamondback viper Mclaren. She lost control of her thoughts momentarily in the car and wondered if she shouldn't get back with Morelli. Then she remembered over 19 months ago….

_One of her FTA's had placed a smoke bomb in her car somewhere and once she was dangerously out of the drive way and in the street, it went off. She couldn't see anything and she was inhaling putrid smoke. She slammed her car into a hard cement standard and woke up with swimming faces coming into focus and distant voices. "Steph…Stephanie…come on cupcake", wait a minute she knew that voice. She came fully to. "Mmm…not good." He let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, not good . How are you feeling? Can you focus on me?" She tried to nod. "Shit." Ouch that hurt. Not like a broken neck kind of hurt but like a soar kind of hurt. "How long have I been out?" He frowned, "20 minutes, maybe longer. Maybe you should think about getting a new job." She snorted. Yeah like that was going to happen. _

_The paramedics okayed her and Morelli took her home. Yes, home. Their home. They'd been living together for several months now. They sat down and he poured them each a steaming hot cup of coffee. "I was serious about finding a different job Stephanie. I want to marry you. I want to have kids. I want to know that my wife is going to die by fire bomb." She sighed. This was a subject they'd been through many times. She wasn't ready. She wasn't sure if she ever would be. She slept with him for the last time that night. Two weeks later she found out she was 6 weeks pregnant .She knew this was just what Morelli needed to try and force a marriage. She also knew that her job didn't exactly lend to having a child or pregnant women for that matter. So she left. She wrote him a note and put it on his pillow for him to find later when he returned home from work. She explained that she was having their baby and that she couldn't stay. She needed to clear her head and lay low for awhile. Just until things settled down in the crazy wacko stalkers department. She'd returned a year and seven months later with their 11 month old, Abre Isabella Plum._

That was why she felt so murderous about being woken up so early. She had just arrived home at a little past 5 yesterday morning and Abre had chosen to cry all night. News travels fast in the burg. How had her managed to figure out she was back and where she was staying in less than 2 days? Another even scarier thought entered her head. That meant Morelli knew and if Morelli knew Ranger definitely knew. He was always the first to know everything. As if on cue her cell phone rang and she recognized her mother's ring tone.

"Stephanie Ann Plum what has happened to your sister!"

"I don't know mom. You should know better than I would. Oh yeah and thanks for the vote of confidence by the way. Do you really think that I would hide Val from everyone!" her voice rose an octave, "I mean sure I can be just a teensy bit irrational sometimes but do you honestly think I'm that big of a bitch?"

Her mom did what any respected house wife would do, she sucked in a breath. "Stephanie Plum you do not speak to me your mother that way. That is not how I raised you!"

She could just imagine how much laundry was going to be neatly starched and creased after this little argument. Just then her cell signaled another call coming in. "Well it's been great mom but I have more important things to do." She glanced at the screen to see who it was and thought maybe she should have stayed in the fight with her mom. Anything would be better than this. She briefly thought about just letting it ring. Then decided it would be best just to get it over with.

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"Yo"

"Babe"

It may have seemed like Ranger was just messing around but Stephanie knew him better than that. His voice was calm, sharp, and low. He was in batman mode. He was pissed. Mixed with a touch of relief and another feeling she couldn't quite place…longing maybe?

"So I guess you found me huh?" She laughed but she just heard controlled breathing on the other side.

"I guess you're mad at me huh?"

"Babe" and he disconnected.

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Vinnie's was her only choice. She dreaded finding Lula and Connie there but she needed to do some bad guy background searching and her only other choice was _Rangeman_. Ranger was not the wisest choice right now. So she pulled in whatever scraps of bravery she could and stepped inside the office.

Both their chins dropped in astonishment. Lula was the first to try and break the silence.

"Girl where you been? We got a stack of FTA's a mile high that got your name written all over it."

With that Stephanie waltzed over into one of Lula's big bear hugs.

"Connie can you give me some FTA's?"

She nodded without speaking and handed her a piece of the pile. She couldn't believe it. She'd left for nearly two years without a goodbye and they weren't mad at her.

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She was flipping through her files when Connie and Lula went completely still. Aside from the fact that this was highly unusual for the two of them, they had just been talking non stop so she knew exactly who it was.

He placed a hand on her lower back. "Babe. I need to see you" and he led her outside. Before she knew what was happening, she was pressed firmly against the wall locked in a kiss that made her toes curl.

"I missed you." He whispered and she could feel the bulge pressed in her stomach to prove it. Her nipples hardened. "I missed you too."

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"Ranger before you say anything, I'm sorry. I couldn't let anyone know where I was. Morelli might have found a way…"

He interrupted "Babe. I get it. You needed time…space…whatever." He gave me a look that said your mine now.

"Well there a few other things I have to tell you. Lets go back to my place." He raised an eyebrow. "Informative speaking only."

"Babe. We won't be doing a whole lot of speaking." Boy was he in for a surprise.

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They walked out to her car and Stephanie was awarded with another eyebrow raise. "I needed something that would throw off suspicion. No one would suspect that Stephanie Plum would have a Diamondback Viper Mclaren."

They drove most of the way in silence. Ranger in his zone and Stephanie oddly enough in her own kind of zone. They passed the street Stephanie would normally turn on to get to her old apartment but Ranger said nothing. She drove for about another forty-five minutes and pulled into her slot at the "Prosperity Lodge". They stepped out of her car and Stephanie beeped the security on. No one would guess that it included an alarm, motion sensors, bullet proof windows, and a thumb print starter. They passed the service counter and headed straight or the elevator. Ranger gave an almost smile when she pressed seven on the level buttons.

They stepped out and she stopped him before they entered her room. "I should warn you. You may be a little surprised at what's inside."

The corners of his mouth tipped playfully, "Babe. I've been that way for 3 years, seven months, and 16 days."

She was flabbergasted. Wow! He's been counting the days since he made me Higgins!

"Well, here it is", she said as she waved her key pass and threw open the door. Her room was huge. Ranger's mouth never dropped but she figured that this is the closest she could get to one. He took a step back and his eyes got wide for a second, just before he began scanning the room. "Always the mercenary", she said out loud.

She did a quick walk through before he could beat her to it and left him to find his own way around. She started cooing Abre when Ranger walked in. Without missing a beat he stated more than asked, "Morelli's."

"Mine. For now. Morelli hasn't found me yet. Though I'm sure I have a million angry messages from him by now." She walked over to the caller i.d. in the next room and sure enough the light was blinking rapidly. She would play them later. Now was not the time.

"I need a donut."

"Babe your sister's missing, Morelli's pissed at you, and your mother thinks your hiding your sister."

"You're right. I need pineapple upside down cake."

He gave me the 200-watt smile.

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They'd just gotten settled in, when Abre started to cry. Stephanie got up, walked over to the crib, placed Abre on her hip, and started cooing without even thinking about it. She'd always said she liked kids in small doses only, but having her own was different. There was something about having a little life depend solely on you that just brought out a naturally maternal side of her.

"The moment I pick you up you start crying harder. I know what you want. You don't like depending on anyone. Do you? No." With that she sat Abre down by the couch. The crying stopped immediately and Abre pulled herself up into a standing position. "That's okay. Being independent is good. You're mommy's strong girl." Stephanie said as she tipped her under the chin lightly.

The corners of Ranger's mouth tipped slightly. "Reminds me of someone else I know."

"I raised her to be."

"If you raise her to be like you then she'll do fine."

Stephanie let out a sarcastic snort of laughter. "Yeah like getting bombed, shot at, tortured, knocked up by someone who doesn't love you, running from your problems, and barely paying your way through life. What a great mom to be like."

He didn't say much. He didn't have to. He summed it all up in three short words. He walked over to her with intense eyes and brushed a stray curl from her face. "Babe. Your more." Abre teetering in an attempt to walk by herself broke into their moment. Stephanie squatted down and opened her arms, but Abre latched a hand into Ranger's pant leg. He did the almost smile again. He sat Abre on her bottom and handed her a cracker.

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An hour later they were all asleep on the couch when Stephanie's car alarm went off. Ranger woke up with her and so did Abre. Before the toddler could start crying , she placed a finger to her lips. Almost as if in response to her mother, the baby stayed silent.

Stephanie went to the cookie jar pulled out another surprise. She was holding a gun, but it had some modifications to it. Like a fully loaded barrel and a silencer placed at the end of it. She quietly slid the window up slowly and surprise, surprise there was a fire escape.

She stealthily made her way down and landed in a silent crouch. Ranger followed in amazement and she pushed her back to the brick wall. She looked at him and he mouthed "A silencer?" She smiled and one again placed a finger to her mouth. Stephanie pulled out a compact and tilted it towards her car without peeping her head out. She saw the logo on his shirt a cursed. "Shit." She bent low and made her way in between the cars.

She noticed that Ranger had his own gun drawn. All the man hard was the _click click_ of Stephanie's gun. "Who sent you? Who do you work for?" She asked these questions calmly with no anger in her voice.

He turned slowly and his face was contorted in fear. "No. No please wait."

She smirked. "I am waiting. You have ten seconds, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3…"

"Okay. Okay, I was paid to break into your car and get your GPS locations."

She looked at her car and the side of her mouth slid upward. "Why you sly fox. You got the shields down. Did you forget the alarm on my windows?" She teased. The shields were off and her window was cracked opened a little. "I'll say this one more time. Who sent you?"

"I can't tell you that. They'll kill me."

She didn't like cowards. She shot him, but not with a bullet. When she pulled the trigger, a knock out dart came out. Ranger chuckled. " Don't. Say. Anything. Guns scare me."

His laugh became heartier. "Babe. Nice to know some things never change."


	2. Chapter 2

_Ranger's POV_

_here ya'll go. The newest chapter to this mystery. I'll be suggesting a song to listen to for each chapter. It always heightens the experience when there's awesome music in the background. You don't have to do it. I just thought it'd make it more fun. With this I recommend Seether- "Truth"._

Stephanie crouched over the slumped body and searched him for any indication of whomever she was afraid it would be. "Fuck." She apparently found her clue. Placed underneath his belt strap inside his jacket was a single white rose.

"Babe. Does whoever's after you know that you're not exactly pure?"

"He knows. He's just fucking crazy." She threw the rose as far away as she could which meant it landed a few feet away. "We have to move."

She got up and ran to the wide doors. She skipped the elevator and flew up the stairs. At the sixth floor she started frantically pressing the up button. Finally the doors opened and she pulled Ranger in. She slid a pass key in a slot that Ranger hadn't noticed before.

When the elevator reached the seventh floor, Stephanie quickened her steps and knocked on the two other doors on the floor. Two women stepped out and looked to her expectantly. "He knows. We can't stay." As if on cue one of the girl's cell phone began to ring. All three tensed. Ranger just watched perplexedly. The girl sharing Stephanie's side of the hall answered and set it to speaker.

"Hello girls. I see your getting better at hiding. It took me months to find you. Oh well, I know that you're here now and I know that you wont be leaving Trenton. I want you to know that you can't hide forever. I will always find you and I'm beginning to lose my patience. I want what's mine and I will get it back. Oh and Stephanie my love. I'll send your regards to your sister." He hung up just as Stephanie spit out, "You sick bastard."

"We have to go. Now. It isn't safe here anymore." With that Stephanie grabbed Ranger and drug him back to her quarters. Ranger leaned against the wall and watched her grab a bag that was full of a lot of very suspicious looking lumps. "Weapons?" He was answered by the unzipping of the bag, rather than a yes or no. A shotgun, two scissor looking knives, a case of darts, a can of defense spray, three pairs of handcuffs, a whip, a judo stick, and another case which gave little away.

"We're gonna need a place to stay the night. Tomorrow we'll move but it's too late in the to do anything now. Do you have any rooms available at the Rangeman office? I'll explain everything to you there." He was going to protest leaving after tomorrow, but left it for tomorrow instead. He pulled out his cell. The familiar boom of Tank's voice came on the other side. "Clear a room. We have guests."

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He noticed that Abre seemed to take this all very well. Considering that she was an eleven month old in a very scary situation. "How long?"

She looked at him from her position on her knees in front of her baby. " How long what?"

"How long have you been running from this guy?"

She looked down and then back up. No staring straight at him but rather through him. " Since about a month and a half after I left."

He looked at her sharply. "While you were pregnant?"

"I had help. Now, this isn't a matter we can discuss here. It would be safer at your place."

He took hold of a second duffel bag that she'd stuffed full of as much clothes and toiletries she could, while talking to him. For the first time that day he looked at her and saw how tired she was. He wished he could have been there to protect her. Why hadn't she come to him before? He'd protect her from Morelli, from that guy on the phone, and from anything or anyone else that came along. Without warning he reached over, grabbed her by the caller, and pulled her in for a kiss he hoped would convey how he felt.

She slipped her leg in between his and he loved the way her fists curled into his shirt. Just then Abre giggled. He let go and watched Stephanie stand there still a little dazed. "Babe."

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Once the girls were all settled in their room, he called an emergency staff meeting.

The merry men were all staring him expectantly, when Stephanie and her friends walked in. "Men, you all know Stephanie."

Tank spoke for all of them, "Bomber." They all tilted their heads.

"These are her partners Cryptina Desra Nevaro or Tina for short and Alejandra Aston X'anders aka ax. Stephanie's going to debrief us and we'll move from there."

The guys gawked at their looks rather than their names. Tina stood 5'6 in a tight leather jacket zipped only in the middle with a pair of torn up jeans. Her long blonde hair was thrown over her shoulder. Ax had a smaller stature with larger curves. She'd probably weigh in at about 136 with her boobs and ass taking up sixty pounds of it. At the moment they precariously placed in a playboy halter with a painted on mini jean mini skirt. Her dark brown curls cascading down her back with eyes to match.

The girls seemed unaware. " Gentlemen. Ours is a delicate situation so you will proceed under our orders." She clicked a button and a picture of a man came onto the screen."

He seemed to be in his late forties with wavy salt and pepper hair. He had a scar going from the top right of his lips to the bottom right. "This is Arturo Caravero "the Carver" Nevaro. He's a wealthy business man involved in the wrong kind of business. He's running a multibillion dollar project called Synthetic Memory Integrator Lessons Engagement or S.M.I.L.E. for short. Basically he's created a way to place copied memories in a person's mind like a chip in a computer. Normally this would be a good thing. Millions of disease or malformation victims would be able to regain use of their arms and legs."

"What's the hitch?" Bobby blurted.

"They've tested their practice on many willing volunteers and each time the same thing happened." Only Batman noticed that her eyes became dark tunnels. She was in her own kind of shutdown. A place wear she could act with out emotions, without pain. "Once they stopped taking it, the symptoms immediately became worse. In stead of just one part the whole body begins to shake compulsively. It gets worse for the longer period of time you've been subjected to the treatment. Sometimes it would only cause a minor headache, others…it would cause total heart failure. Your body forgets how to work on its own without the so called 'cure'. It's like once it's done with your 'broken' piece, it moves on t others that aren't broken. If you stop the treatment before it reaches your other functional branches, the messed up part goes back to the way it was."

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_**Stephanie's POV**_

Stephanie leaned forward on a chair and tried to control her breathing but it wasn't seeming to work very well. "If your not handicapped at all, it's worse. I've seen men that tried to cross Arturo die in slow agony as their lungs stop working. And he wont stop. He's pushing for the full release of his program by August. My team and I know the floor plan of the area and the computer system. We'll find Nevaro and take him down. Your job will be to find any and all hostages. That, gentle men, gives us a little less than six months to make a plan and execute it. " It went without saying that many of the captives maybe in precarious situations.

Tank asked the question that she knew everyone else would want to know but were too afraid to ask. "Bomber. What's this got to do with you?"

With that Stephanie's partners brought out a little girl. "Boys meet Abre Isabella Plum. My daughter and the only patient of Doctor Nevaro's to survive with no complications."

There was no gasp but this was pretty much as close as you could get with the Rangeman team. Every man's eye in the room, including Ranger's, grew like saucers.

"You can understand why it is imperative to keep Abre away from my father. There's no telling what he would do with such a powerful weapon. Millions could die." Tina spoke up.

There was a click out side the door and all three women had their gun drawn, when Ella walked in.

"Stephanie dear so nice to see you!" She didn't even falter.Stephanie quickly re-holstered her gun and smiled. "Still clean up after this team of oafs I see? Why don't you come work for us? Women can be much more…civilized." She teased good heartedly.

"I wouldn't doubt it. And I see you've brought company."

"Oh yes. Ella this is Tina and Ax, two of my best and most trusted friends. The little one outside the door is my daughter Abre." Stephanie couldn't believe how she's forgotten her Burg manners. She guessed that after so little contact with anyone else that she'd forgotten.

"A child? Well this celery just won't do. I'll have some goodies sent to the room."

Stephanie almost let her walk out the door without realizing what Ella had implied. "Ella, I'm not staying with Ranger. I'm here with my team."

"Very well, I'll have it sent to your room." And the darn women left with a wink! What was that supposed to mean!

She turned to Ranger. He had the 200 watt smile.

She glared at him then turned toward the merrymen. "That's all the information we'll be sharing for now. We'll talk about schematics and Intel tomorrow. My crew is tired and I'm sure they're looking forward to a long hot bath." All the men's eyes immediately flew to the women's bodies. She laughed. It would take Ranger a millennium to get the boys focused back on the task at hand. Score one for Bombshell. She gave him a contented little smirk then fled the room. She was thinking it was probably not such a smart idea to stick around, after tormenting Batman.

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Once Abre was playing contentedly with some keys and they were safely behind their apartment door, Tina and Ax both looked at her expectantly. When it looked like she wasn't going to answer, Tina exploded. "Well! What the hell is up with you and the guy with the great package?" She grimaced. She did not need a mental image f her grandmother. "First off, don't ever say that again and second nothing. We're just business partners." She tried her best to look innocent. "Mmmhh and Orlando bloom is my fiancé."

Stephanie didn't particularly know which aspects of her life she was comfortable with sharing, but this wasn't one of them. She wracked her brain for a way to divert the topic and smiled. " Oh and what about you Tina? There's gotta be at least 10 of the finest single men in this building. Have you finally decided that screw 'em and leave'em isn't the best policy?" Tina arched a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "I'm just keeping my options open."

Thankfully, someone knocked on the door. Stephanie squinted through the peephole. It was Ella with holding what Stephanie could only explain as heaven. Her eyes glazed over and she checked her mouth for drool. She opened the door and followed the delicious aroma to the kitchen

"I didn't know what you're friends liked so I brought to of everything." And she wasn't kidding. She'd brought _everything_. There were two cookies, two pieces of chocolate cake, two pieces of pineapple upside-down cake, two huge home made peanut buttercups, two pieces of cheesecake, a bag of licorice, a box of goldfish, and for good measure 2 cups of yogurt and granola. She'd known the woman for 4 years and she still didn't know how she did it. She'd just talked to her a half hour or so before! "Ella this is…heaven." Ax finished for her. Stephanie grinned. Great minds think alike.

She grabbed what she knew Ella had put their for her, the pineapple upside-down cake, and two unexpected things. Licorice for Abre and a yogurt cup for herself.

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2 gossip and food filled hours later, she decided it was time for bed. She grabbed Abre and set her on the couch for changing. Tina and Ax had already taken the bed. It hadn't been reproachful. They knew Stephanie liked to be near the door. She'd be the first one to hear any intruders and the first one to shoot.

That's why she was surprised when someone placed a hand over her mouth at 2 in the morning. Before she knew what she was doing, she'd spun the prowler around by his wrist and kicked him away. She pounced on him with a dagger that she kept attached to her ankle and held it to his throat. "Ranger! Oh my God! Are you alright?" She held out her hand to help him up.

He grunted as he pulled. "Little tense there aren't we babe?"

Her mind went off to darker nights as she said, "You shouldn't have surprised me. I could have." She let her voice trail off. They both knew what could have happened. " Besides, your batman. How did I manage to kick you across the floor?"

He looked at her like he was trying to see something in her eyes that he couldn't outright ask. "You were quick. You caught me by surprise."

Tina stuck her head out of the room. "Everything okay out….oh hi. Okay well looks like everything's fine here. I'll leave you two alone. I'll just be…heading back to bed." She snapped her head back in and quietly shut the door.

"Three."

"Huh?" Stephanie asked.

"Us three alone, Abre's here now."

This was slightly awkward. He seemed to mean it in a more profound sense. "Yeah, Abre's here now. Ranger…why are you here?" She didn't know if she could take another second of Ranger with sleepy eyes and a naked torso without jumping him.

He gave her the wolf grin. "Just checkin' on you. Why? Need a partner?"

She looked at the couch with Abre sitting there playing with her feet and back at him. "Bring her up we'll take my bed."

And that's how they fell asleep. In his bed with Stephanie's arm slung protectively across Abre and Ranger's squeezing them both tight.


	3. Chapter 3

_I forgot to disclaim so I'll do it now before I forget again. **I don't own any of the characters or places in the story other than Tina, Ax, and Abre**. This story is after twelve. With that said welcome to the third chapter. Go along with the music in the story. I hope you enjoy_

Stephanie was in a predicament. She'd awaken from her usual nightmares at five in the morning. It was no five thirty and she wanted to go running. The problem was that the baby was leaning against her and Ranger still had his arm slung protectively over them. Usually Abre would be awake and cranky by now, but she guessed Ranger made her feel safe. He had the same effect on her. She really didn't want to wake them up, but sitting there for another thirty minutes was not an option. She moved slowly, pressing Abre to her other side and inching out from under Rangers arm. It was no use. Abre woke up and so did…

"Babe."

She sighed, "Ranger go back to sleep. It's only five thirty. I'm sorry I woke you." He propped himself up on an elbow. "Babe it's five thirty." Well no duh captain obvious. "Ranger, I just said that." He smiled. "It's five thirty and you're up." Mmhhmm, she had an idea where this conversation was going and she didn't like it. "It's five thirty and you're up in running close." He teased.

Okay so he wasn't used to this Stephanie yet, but she'd been running everyday since she left. "I like to go running in the mornings. It helps me clear my head." She said as she finished lacing her shoe. "Well hold up. I'll come with you." He was out of bed before she could protest. "Ranger wait no…" and the crying started. Stephanie had propped her against Ranger, when she was scooting out. She'd been snuggled in his chest and was fast asleep again. He grabbed her before Stephanie could and started playing dad. Stephanie had almost forgotten he'd done this before. "What's wrong big girl? Huh? Why are you crying?" She didn't blame her. She'd be crying if she was torn from a slumber with Ranger too.

"I've got her." She tried taking her from his arms, but he turned. "Where does she go?" She sighed. He was going to be difficult. "With Tina. She likes to sleep in so Abre sleeps in with her." He handed the baby to her mother and started pulling on some sweats and a tee. He slid on some running shoes and turned to Stephanie. He smiled. "She's a heavy sleeper", referring to Abre. She was once again, fast asleep on her mommy's shoulder. Stephanie already new what he was thinking. "hmm wonder where that came from?" He did the almost smile.

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They were on their way out, after safely depositing Abre in Tina's bed ten minutes later. Stephanie couldn't help but smile. If the baby and her friends were surprises, this was going to floor him. She started running as soon as they stepped out of the Rangeman building. She didn't slow when her feet hit the smooth sidewalk of the park. Ranger kept easily kept up with her stride for stride. This was no easy task, since her training. They rounded a corner and Ax joined them.

"Hey Rambo. You got the tunes?" With that Stephanie pulled out three ipods. She handed one to Ax and turned to Ranger. "We have kinda this tradition where we add three songs to our ipods each week. Each of us picks a song we like so we all end up with the same songs on our play lists. This one's Tina's. You can use it or you can go into your zone. Either way." She slipped on the headphones and the remix to The Scorpion's "Mortal Combat" started playing. They all three picked up the pace.

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**Ranger's POV**

He was staring at her as they ran. He couldn't believe how much she'd changed, yet somehow remained the same. The old Babe would not have been able to run two in a half miles without breaking a sweat, but he had to smile when the Ghostbusters' theme song came on. It seemed like everything and nothing had changed. Yep she was different but it was definitely good. She'd finally become serious about her job.

Now all he had to do was figure out what exactly her job _had been…_and what she's hiding. No one else would have noticed, but he knew there was more to this story. Something that she hadn't told them yet. His attention was abruptly drawn else where. The girls had just started laughing and dancing all of a sudden. They were bumping hips, pushing, and twirling. All while they kept moving toward the end. He was smiling. "MmhMm" he cleared his throat.

Stephanie turned slightly embarrassed. "What? It's Aretha Franklin. Every girl's gotta dance to 'Respect." He burst out laughing.

They kept running. All three were teasing each other and laughing the whole way.

They finally finished five miles and he was noticing that Stephanie hadn't broken a sweat, when Ax stopped him at the door to Rangeman. Her face was serious. "Thanks. Boss hasn't laughed or played around like that in a long time." She walked in, but he stood there for a little while longer. He was letting the meaning behind that sink in. The right side of his mouth tipped up. He would never admit it, but neither had he.

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**Stephanie's POV**

Stephanie walked into her the apartment and noticed one of her outfits was already laid out for her. It was suit with a low cut collar and a skirt that gripped the ass then flare out a inch or so above the leg. She put it on and some make up and did the hair gel thing. She put on some lip gloss and looked in the…yow! She couldn't wear this in front of Ranger! She needed something to go under. Where were all her tan shirts? Too late. Someone was knocking on her door.

Lester was at the door with an odd smirk painted on his face. His grin only grew when he saw her. "Bomber. Meeting."

She gave him a glare. "And you came to accompany me down?" He grinned and held his hand, in a you first gesture. Smart ass.

All male eyes turned to her as she entered the room. Including…Ranger! Wow! He was dressed in a very tight black shirt and a pair of slacks that definitely showed off some of his finer assets. He raised an eyebrow and she matched it with her own. So it was war was it? Well, two could play at that game. And this was one of the many talents she'd improved over her short hiatus. She leaned over Ranger, giving him a full view of the wonders of a pushup bra and grabbed the remote. His eyes went dark for just a second.

"Okay this is the artificial input building. It's where most of the experiments and 'patients' are held. This is the floor plan. As you can see there are holding cells for clients they deem necessary to stay long term." Unbeknownst to Stephanie, her eyes had become black tunnels again. "The x's are where cameras are placed and the squares are where there will most likely be a troop of guards. You'll have to figure out away to incapacitate them." She smirked at her own irony. These men found getting shot at fun. They would have no problems disabling them temporarily, if not permanently. "Some of the patients are already mortally inhibited. It's tough but there are more than 30 sick people to save and you'll have to find each one of them. Leave the dying. In this place, even the doctors are trained in self defense. Move quickly…"

"Says here that the doors are thumbprint activated. We'll need a duplicated print. Anyone you might be able to trust Babe?" He interjected.

"Actually… I was kinda hoping you could find a way past that." She answered sheepishly.

"So everyone's a psycho?"

"Well actually…there is one." Tina finished Ax's sentence.

"Oh no. No." Stephanie started.

One side of Ranger's mouth tipped up.

"Come on Stephanie he loves you." She sighed. "Yes and he's also 21, fresh out of the military, scared to death of his boss, and probably doesn't have a death wish."

"I like him already." Lester commented. "Who is he?"

"Angel Guerra." Tina sighed. "He's also way too young for any of us." Stephanie added. "So, he's still one of the finest pieces of ass in the entire Western hemisphere and he's on level three clearance which means that he can give you his thumbprint." She exhaled noisily. "Okay fine, but if we're going out we're going to need a few new accessories. You two up for some bad guy hunting?"

They both grinned. This was going to be fun…


	4. Chapter 4

_Ya'll get an extra surprise today. The last chapter was a boring but necessary piece of the story so I thought I'd give you another chapter. I would recommend Disturbed-"Get Psycho" for when Stephanie's chasing hr FTA and ZZtop- "Bad to the Bone" for when they pull up on their accessories. _

They were all sitting in the parking lot of the bail bonds office. Stephanie was mentally trying to prepare herself for whatever situation she was about to walk into and the girls were getting restless. "Boss." Ax tapped on her window and brought her back to real world. "lets go."

They were giving each other the appraising glares that girls always give when entering a room with other women in it. Especially when it's best friends meeting the other best friends. Then suddenly…

"Eeeh! Oh my god! I totally love your boa!" Tina jumped over to Lula. "Pleas tell me that's leopard print." Ax said while crossing over to Connie. Nothing could have prepared her for the amount of squealing that went on afterward.

"Got any skips for me Connie?" She said when there was a lull in the very loud conversations. She handed her a file and she looked it over. She'd already been through the stack before and tossed out the ones that would earn her less than a grand. She didn't work for chump change anymore. But she didn't want to move in on Ranger's turf either so she kept it under fifteen thousand also. James Stelone, wanted for armed robbery, first time offender, and it would earn her seven grand. She grabbed another from the stack and they were off.

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She chucked the folder on their laps. "Think you can handle this one?" She was only being courteous. Of course they could. Ax was the daughter of a murdering psycho and Tina was ex military. "Fifteen hundred? Hun, chump change. Why do we get the boring one?" Tina crossed her arms over her chest. "Because Ranger takes all the cases over fifteen grand here and I'm the boss." They looked at each other. "We wanna watch you first." She sighed and shoved her earring forward with a finger. "You're both like little kids." There was a camera in it. They grinned and high fived each other.

They got out and moved to their car, a silver firebird with smokey black accents. She watched hem pull out, back to the Rangeman office to watch the show.

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**Ranger's POV**

He was sitting in the control room watching their guests hook up a video cam to their tv system. "Just watch! You'll all love it! She's so great at her job." They bounced around giddily. They'd called everyone in here to watch Stephanie in action. Neither he nor his men knew what the big deal was. They'd seen her on the job before.

They finished putting wires together and sound came on. "Steph, you there?"

"Yeah I'm here. Bitch lives on the third floor. I hate stairs." She complained. He smiled this was definitely his Babe. And sure enough the camera showed motion up a flight of steps. "Good news is, no elevator. He can't get away that way." Knock, knock. "James Stelone?" she enquired. "Who's askin'?" he shot back venom. "Stephanie Plum. I work with your bail bonds company and…" Slam!

She sighed exaperatedly. "Why do they always run?" He figured it was a rhetorical question, but Tina answered anyways. "That's what makes it fun Boss." She kicked the door down and noticed James' fat ass hanging halfway out the window. "No way I'm gonna let some bitch take me in." She laughed sarcastically. "Mmm…well how about a woman willing to kill?" His eyes got big and he shot the rest of the way out the window. She followed him out onto the fire escape and leapt over at the second story.

She landed right in front of him, just as he was turning. "Boo! Run." She stated coolly. The men laughed at his terrified face. He used her advice and took off. She calmly followed after him. He noticed that she was in no rush. She knew she would get her prey. Lester and Bobby snorted when he fell over an empty box in the alley. He picked himself up off the ground, but he wasn't fast enough. He only stumbled a little farther, before Stephanie caught him by the scruff and through him down again. "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little old girl like me?"

He grabbed the nearest thing he could find which just happened to be a pipe, probably fell off the side of the old building. He swung at her but she caught his wrist and snapped a cuff on him. She pulled the same twirly thing that she'd pulled on him that morning and had his other hand behind his back in a second. Snap. She spoke in an icy voice, "You robbed a man, put a gun to his head and stole the money from his cash register. That could have been all the money he had in the world. You shot a hole in the window and shattered the glass. That could have hurt someone not to mention how much repair will cost. Then you proceeded to steal a poor old lady's car. Do you have any idea how scary it is the first time a gun's pointed at you? It's terrifying. Now, you're going to court one way or another. Don't make this hard on yourself." With that, she lifted him higher and tugged him over the fence back to the car.

Everyone in the room stood stunned…except for the girls. They were shrieking like to teenyboppers who'd just seen there favorite boy band. "She is so kickass! I don't know how she does it! Usually one of us has to flirt with him to draw him out and then we jump him together. But she…she instills fear in the bad guys. She does all that and always looks good doing it. She's like freakin' Wonder Woman." They high-fived.

No. This was definitely not the old Babe.

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**Stephanie's POV**

Stephanie had a problem. She was sitting in the station's parking lot, but …she couldn't go in. Morelli would be in there. She just tackled a 6 foot criminal but she couldn't face an old friend. Okay well…more than an old friend. He was her ex lover, fiancé, boyfriend, and father of her child. Most likely a very pissed off father…who could be very scary when yelling and screaming. "Unh, I am such a dope!"

She drew in all the courage she had, grabbed the guy by the wrist, and walked hm through the doors. Thankfully, the desk clerk was ne so he didn't recognize her. She smiled. Hmm…maybe this will be easier than she thought it would. She jinxed it. Carl Castanza walked around the corner and stared right in her face. "Steph?" He speed walked over to her and scooped her into a bear hug. "Where've you been? How've you been? Why'd you…" He stopped short and stared at something over her shoulder.

"Morelli."

"Cupcake. We have to talk." He responded and latched on to her elbow. They ended up in his office. He stood still for awhile, flexing his jaw, and staring at her. "Where've you been? No. You know what? Scratch that. Where's the baby?"

"Morelli. She's mine."

"No, Stephanie! She's ours! I should be part of her life! This isn't how it should be! We should be married! You quit your stupid job so why not be with me? Huh! What's stopping you? Manoso? Is that what this is fucking about? Cause let me tell you. He's not gonna love the kid more than I can and he definitely won't be there for her or him or…Christ! I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl! Shit Stephanie! Two fucking years! The baby's mine too!" He ranted.

She waited until he paused. "Are you finished?" He got another angry look in his eyes so she started talking before he went off again. "Yes, Morelli. She's your little girl too. I shouldn't have taken her from you, but there was no other way. I would have left her with you, had I any choice. And we can't get married, Joe. Ranger has nothing to do with it. I did quit my job, but only for a more dangerous one. I got better at what I do and I can protect the two of us. I'm never going to be a burg wife. I'll never be the girl you want Joe and you deserve that. You deserve someone who will stay at home and cook dinner for you. I'm just not it. You deserve a woman who's everything I'm not, just like I deserve a man who supports me. Someone who loves me for me, because I'm never going to 'settle down'. It just isn't me. Plus it's been us women on our own for awhile. I kind of like it. I don't need a guy to help with Abre, but I do want her dad to be in her life."

He looked worn down, tired. "I love you Cupcake." He sighed.

"I love you too Morelli."

He smiled a little. "Can I see her?"

"Yeah, sure we'll be at McDonalds around 5?"

He grinned. "What? Abre likes the play area . 'And I like the French fries." She thought to herself. He laughed out loud.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey guys sorry this took so long to update. I got a 2 C's on my report card and my parents weren't too thrilled so I got grounded from the computer. _

_And sorry about the no "Bad to the Bone", I was expecting it to fit in the last chapter but it would've been too long if I included it. So listen to La Grange- "Bad to the Bone" in this chapter, when they pull in on their accessories. Last but not least the next chapter…_

She spoke into the device, after Morelli left. "Now it's your turn. Go get the guy I gave you. I don't want to see you there when I get back. That means get your behinds moving now." And there was a rush of excitement on the other side. No doubt, it was the girls scrambling to collect their supplies before she returned. She did an almost smile that Ranger would've been proud of.

She drove over to the bonds office and handed the slip over to Connie. When she stepped out of the office, she was seven grand richer. She made her way back to range man and made it there in less then five minutes! Damn she loved her car! She had to admit she wasn't expecting to find what she did.

All the merry men were staring her, kind of awestruck. She gave them a finger wave. "Uhh…hi guys."

"Babe, A women ready to kill?" He was thinking about smiling. Oh! The girl's must have let the boys watch. She shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea to bluff at the time." He smiled the 200 watt grin. "Where's Abre? Those two aren't still here are they?"

Lester smirked. "No. They high-tailed it out of here, when you said they had 'til you got back. I think they were afraid you'd shoot them." The whole Rangeman team laughed. She smiled a devilish grin. "Probably not shot them, take away their fun and toys….maybe."

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She confiscated Abre from Ella and headed up to the room to change but when she got there, there wasn't a lot of clothes in the closet. Tina and Ax chose that exact moment to walk in. She looked at them expectantly. " Yes, we have the money."

She did the eyebrow thing. "Okay so that's not what you're asking about." Abre took a deep breathe. "Well….Ella came in when you were gone….Probably you should got to the seventh floor, if you want to change." She raised both her eyebrows. "And did you tell her that wouldn't be necessary?"

"We tried but she can be very stubborn, when she puts her mind to something." Stephanie blew out a sigh. _Looks like I'm living with Ranger…_

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The arrogant bastard was sitting in an arm chair reading the newspaper, when she entered the apartment with Abre still on her hip. She gave him a glare that screamed pissed of Babe and marched into the bedroom. She opened the closet and there were her close, nestled in right next to Ranger's. Then she got an idea. _Well Ranger, seems you didn't think of something. Where are Abre's clothes? I can't stay here if my kid doesn't have any clothes. _

The hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention. "Second drawer to the bottom on the right." She opened it and checked. Yep there were toddler sized clothes. "My…" He cut her off. "Guns? There locked up in the bottom drawer." She was starting to run out of excuses to get out of this. "Weapons, there's knives and a whip too. Where will your arsenal go?"

"Babe." Oh okay, not something he's going to divulge. She pulled out her robe and turned to Abre. "Do you need a shower too? Huh, mommy's princess?" She cooed. Abre started to bounce up and down, bending her little knees. She scooped her up and shut the bathroom door after them.

When they were done, she did the hair gel thing and the mascara thing. Then she smoothed on some plain old clear lip gloss and started to mess with Abre's hair too. "How are we gonna do your hair today? How about Pebbles style? A little ribbon tied on top of your head?" She took the smiling and giggling as a yes. She dressed Abre in a diaper and herself in a t-shirt and jeans, while singing the Batman theme song.

"Babe." She just about jumped out of her jeans. "Jeez, Ranger! We could have been naked!" He smiled. She didn't particularly think it would matter if she was naked. Ranger's seen her naked, but Abre was a female entitled to her privacy rights. A baby girl, but she was still a female.

"I've seen you naked and I don't think Abre minds." He said as he walked over to the little one. "Do you? Huh?" He spoke almost…playfully as he poked her sides and tugged a little dress over her head. "Are you free tonight?"

"Distraction?" He tipped his chin. "Well Abre and I are meeting Morelli at McDonalds tonight, but I'll need a ride home. Ask one of the girls." He did the wolf grin. "And this would be home?" She stepped out, slipped on some tenni's, and was on her way out of there before she had a commit-o-phobia attack. _Holy shit! I just ignored Batman!_

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The night with Morelli had passed pretty uneventful and Stephanie woke up in Ranger's bed the next morning. She and Morelli knew they couldn't do the relationship thing, but he loved Abre. He'd somehow managed to get her to agree to taking Abre, when she met with Angel.

She was a little nervous. This wasn't just a man spending the night with his daughter. This was a man spending the night with his daughter who just happened to be the key to a very deadly weapon so she decided she would do what any worried mother would do. She was going to put a tracker in Abre's little clip on paci, but for now she was still with her. She was so encompassed in thoughts of the day before that it took her a few seconds to recognize the sound of a lock fumbling.

She got up and sat on the couch in what she hoped was a sexy position.

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**Ranger's POV**

He'd had a long hard night and he was dog tired. Jean Ellen was good, but in a different way than his Babe. Stephanie was…**is** more than qualified in a distraction job. She had an unsubtle, misleading way of fooling any male FTA. Jean Ellen had more of a direct, rash approach. And that was exactly what had happened with this skip. She'd decided to drug the guy without telling anyone. In the end Lester got shot and a hundred thousand dollar client decided they weren't trustworthy.

His mind was on the job and sleep. He didn't expect to find a surprise. Oh but, what good surprise, it was! Babe was sitting on his couch with one knee bent, robe falling to the base of her thigh. One leg was straight out in front of her and she was looking through the scope of her 38.

He watched her move the scope slowly down his body and stop somewhere in his lower regions. He grinned. "See something you like Babe?"

She moved back up and landed on a spot where some of Lester's blood had landed on his upper sleeve. "Blood?" He nodded. "Lester got shot." She snapped up. "He okay?"

"Yeah, he just got grazed on the arm but the bullet caught an artery." She leaned back down, gun forgotten. "A cup of vinegar, 2 cups of color bleach, and 2 sprits of stain remover." He had to wonder, once again, what exactly she'd been through. "Thanks Babe. I'll tell Ella."

She lifted an eyebrow. Any sign of the past was wiped of her face. "You didn't use one of my girls. Tina's asleep downstairs with Abre and Ax went running with me this morning." He hardened in preparation for some jealous arm flapping. "Jean Ellen." That wasn't what he received. She walked up to him and looked him in the eye with startling blue eyes. "Catch some sleep while you still can. Payback's a bitch." Something told him the catastrophic job wasn't the repayment she was referring to…

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**Stephanie's POV**

She didn't know what had given her the courage to say that. She'd implied something

sexual to Batman! She was playing with fire! Okay so she knew why she said it. Months

of sugar free training had been building up. She hadn't had a donut in a sinfully long time. She couldn't keep her damn Hungarian hormones in check for a lot longer. She smiled, but with her out fit for tonight neither would he.

She picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number. "Are they ready? Good…Downstairs in ten minutes?" She hung up and dialed the number for the fourth floor apartment. "Our supplies are ready. I'll be down in 15."

She pressed the button for Ella. "Yes Mrs. Plum?" She cringed. "No need to be so formal Ella. I'll be receiving a package in a few minutes. Don't let the boys check it. It's a surprise for tonight." Then she dialed Tank. " I'll need a man to drop off Abre at Morelli's." He grunted in an understood way. Two minutes later there was a knock on the door. She opened it to Hal. "She's right in here. Sorry you have to baby-sit for awhile. I would do it myself but I have to prepare for tonight."

There was a scuffle outside and Stephanie peeked out to see Ella running from the doorman. Holding 2 cardboard boxes away from him. Ranger came over. "Boss, she won't let me check it!" Stephanie interjected before Ranger could answer. "It's okay. It's a personal package for me." And she grabbed it in her hustle out the door.

She hopped in the elevator and rode down to Tina and Ax waiting for her at the door. "Let me see! Let me see!" Tina grabbed the boxes and ripped them open. A note fell to the floor along with 3 pairs of keys. _Hope this is what you were looking for. _Tina held up 3 outfits. Stephanie smirked. Yep, she'd definitely have the after sex glow tomorrow.

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**Ranger's POV**

Ranger stood in his position at the club. Back to the wall, keeping track of everything going on around him without really noticing. Every sense was in tune. That's why he heard the familiar rumble of a motorcycle gang. Only, this wasn't a motorcycle gang.

It was Babe and crew and...holy shit! They had the full attention every guy in the room. Her eyes were a sexy smoky black, her perfectly curled hair rippled down her back and shoulders as she lifted the helmet off her head, and she was wearing something he didn't think could be considered an outfit. Each of them had on a skin tight leather biker jumper, but these weren't the normal safety suits.

First of all, they weren't pants. They were enticingly short shorts that cupped her ass and showed off a lot more than a hint of leg. All their zippers were pulled down to just below their belly button, giving a shot of each breast to the side. Black leather boots clung to their skin to about mid thigh.

His eyes darkened and he struggled to remain in control. He was definitely staying close to her tonight…..


	6. Chapter 7

_Hey ya'll I'm sorry I got this up so late. So here you go. Oh and listen to "Foghat" – "Slow Ride" when she's describing Angel, "Kanye West"-"Workout Plan" when she's dancing with Angel, "Carlos Santana"-"Smooth" when she's dancing with Ranger and when they…; ) _

_This is why it's rated M._

Stephanie handed the valet the keys to her ducati and patted him on the chest. "Take car of my baby okay? She's my newest toy." Then she stepped around him and the girls followed suit.

She did the finger wave to Tank, Lester, and Ranger. Bobby must be inside. She scanned the room. Okay so Angel wasn't here yet. Good. That meant he was following the plan. She'd sent him an untraceable cell phone, after their first conversation. They'd talked through every little detail and if all went as planned then nothing would send up a red flag.

She seated herself at a barstool and ordered a three tequila shots. Someone whispered in her ear. "Babe, shouldn't you be coherent during this job?"

She tilted her head away from curious eyes. "I can handle this Ranger."

"Since when?"

"Since training." She could almost hear the corners of his mouth tipping up. "How?" She sighed. "I drank…a lot." Ax and Tina chimed in. "At least two beers and three shots a night for two weeks straight. A good bounty hunter can take vodka straight like a pro." They giggled, Stephanie cringed. "God that burned." Tank and the guys burst out laughing. Stephanie could just see the customers giving them weird looks. "Way to be subtle boys." They finally subsided and Lester decided to have some fun. "So let me get this straight. Ya'll helped Stephanie build a tolerance for alcohol." The girls managed something like a yes. "Huh. How many times did you have to carry her out?"

The ladies had a fit. "None! We had a different hottie carry her out every night!" By this time they were gasping for air. "Ranger. You've been awfully for awhile." Bobby's voice magically appeared. "I'm trying to decide if I should get a list of names to through out windows." Stephanie groaned.

There was a loud crash at a few table over. "Well gentlemen, I'd hate to end this pleasant chitchat but apparently my date has arrived." She walked over to Angel and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Down puppy." Her voice oozed power. He jumped at her touch and spun around. "I was just encouraging these two gentlemen to make a change in their vocabulary when referring to a particular woman." She glanced across the table. One was out cold on the floor and the other was cowering on the side away from Angel. She looked back up at him and touched a small cut at the base of his jaw.

She addressed the conscious man. "My pet doesn't seem to like you." When she didn't feel him leaving, she turned to him with her best scowl plastered on. "That was your cue to take your friend and leave." He pulled the guy's arm around his neck and hustled out of there. "Tina, Ax."

"Already on our way." It would be a long night for those two men.

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She smiled teasingly. "That wasn't part of the plan."

"I'm not exactly mister cool when it comes to you." Stephanie got a good look at him for the first time all night. He definitely wasn't hard to look at. You could fall into the ocean of his deep blue eyes and run your fingers through his tousled blonde hair. He had a mischievous grin that could any member of the female sex into a pool of puddles. He was sporting a brown and orange leather jacket, pierced left ear, and fitted Abercrombie jeans. He towered over most men at six foot four, he had perfectly toned biceps, and what's under the shirt was even better. One thousand crunches twice a day, every day, had done him good. He would look like any other scary man in her life except for the eyes…his eyes had a …passion behind them. He was genuinely a loving person and you could see it in those sparkling waters. "Recreation clothes?" He smirked and leaned in to whisper in to her ear. "I'm not on the job."

Were he any other man, this would have sent chills straight down to her doodah, but this was Angel. She really did see him as a love sick puppy. A love sick puppy that fell for the wrong girl. There was still something between her and Ranger, he was too in love with her, and he just didn't have the experience that she did. Don't get her wrong. Angel had his own…skeletons. Too many gang fights. Too much abandonment. Too few people who cared. He'd killed once. His father had been abusing his mother and he shot him, but he served his time in juvie and never killed anyone else ever again. Stephanie had taken over 20 lives. He'd slept with two women before. She'd been with multiple lovers. Had she met him before the mess with Abre, she would have probably fallen in love. Time had made all the difference.

"Eeeeh! Angel!" Tina jumped to wrap her legs around his waist and stuck her tongue down his throat in their customary greeting. A chorus of groans ensued from the Rangemen boys. They got a little more into it and they were attracting quite a crowd so Stephanie broke them up. "Okay guys we have business to do." He dropped her and looked to the third musketeer. He pulled her forehead forward and kissed it. "Ax." Just her name.

They all found a table and pulled up some chairs. "So what was so important that I had to come all the way to Trenton for?" He wasn't sarcastic, just blunt. "You know about Abre, about the treatment of the 'patients', about how they need my daughter to figure out what they did right." He nodded as he took her information in. "We're running out of places to hide and you know as well as I do what he'll do to us, if he finds us. He'll kill us and he'll take Abre. We can't let that happen. Think of the small scale his terror is on now and multiply it by millions. Every handicapped person in America, in the world, will want to get their hands on the 'miracle drug'. It's time for you to decide our side or there's?"

He stared at her with serious eyes for a beat. "I'm a predator, not a killer." Funny how those words made sense. She nodded her head slightly. "Girls..." They understood and left. Ranger stepped in. "Okay then we'll need a couple of things from you. First there's got to be a distraction, big enough to sneak a sizable team of men into the prison unit and behind the trucks. Just long enough for them to get in place without being seen. We'll take it from there. Second we have to know any and all information on changes in the plan. Third…". He turned back to her. Stephanie reached up and touched the button that turned of the ear piece. "Third I'll need someone to make sure they don't kill Valorie before we get there." Her heart constricted painfully. "Just…just make sure she stays alive until I can save her. Fourth we'll need you to do this covertly." He lost some of the mutiny in his face and looked back at her with determined eyes. "I'll do what I can. It'll be difficult. He's expecting you to come for her and he has a personal vendetta with your family in particular. When will D day be?" He knew that she needed to keep talking about work to distract her from thoughts of her sister. "Three days before it releases. We need all the time we can get to pull this together."

"He can't release it if he doesn't have Abre."

This was the part that terrified her the most. "That's why we're going to let him catch her…"

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She couldn't but she had to. If she didn't he'd kill Valorie and he'd keep torturing innocent people. Tina and Ax were going to take her out. She knew that she would be too weak to let her baby girl go.

"And you're okay with that?"

"No. Tina and Ax are going to do it for me." His gaze seem to be boring through her mind, picking up any piece of insecurity that she was carrying. "Where is she now?"

"With her father." He raised an eyebrow. "He's an ex-military cop. He's more than capable….plus…I put a tracker in her paci." He burst out laughing. Ranger did the almost smile. "What! It's just precautionary."

"Yeah, right. It has absolutely nothing to do with you being nosy. You wanting to know where they are every step of the way." He smiled. " I can always count on you to lighten up my day. Come on. This song has the best beat I've heard all night. Let's dance." He held out his hand for her. She turned to Ranger. He quirked an eyebrow. "He's almost as good as Lester, please?" He nodded.

They started off with a simple tango. Two steps with hips moving and arms turning together. It quickly turned into a series of spins and twirls, which turned flat out gyrating in a complete complicated dance workout. Then he started getting handsy. He moved his hands down the sides of her ass and she grabbed his hands and moved them to her upper back. "Don't." He spun her back to his front and pulled one arm up so that she was leaning and the right side of her neck was left open. He took advantage and kissed the nape. "Why?" They were both breathing hard for two entirely different reasons.

"Angel you don't want to do this." He grabbed her and ran a finger along the crevice of her breasts. "Angel stop. Are you trying to get yourself killed?" She smacked his hand away, but he just used the free hand to pull her to him. "Will it make him as jealous as me?" He whispered in her ear. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. "Guess it did."

Angel stepped past her and walked right up to Ranger. They did what any two macho males would do. They had a stare down. Brave notion, it didn't last long.. "I don't follow anyone's orders". Ranger gave him the look that let his opponents know he'd killed and he wasn't afraid to do it again. "If you want to make it through this alive, you'll obey your superior, soldier". Angel threw her one last hurt look before trudging off.

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**Ranger's POV**

"Seemed to know you **really** well" his jaw was starting to ache from his firm set. She blew out a sigh and pulled him toward her. He wanted to be mad but the song had changed and Stephanie kissed him lightly on the collar. He let the feeling sink in and pulled her in as close as he could.

This time they did catch a crowd, but not for their dancing abilities. Stephanie and Ranger were oozing sexual tension. With every step they'd find a way to run a hand over the other's body. He dipped her long body and ran a hand down the full length of her clinging leg. She pulled her to him and kissed the spot just below his ear. He ran his hands across places on her that were his and his only. When ever one body turned, the other did too. Their torsos were stuck together like glue.

He pulled one last stunt. His hand lightly grazed right on her groin and her eyes did the sexy thing. The way they look when she's feeling sexy, always made him loose any hope of clear thought. This time was no different. He pushed through the crowd and up against a secluded wall.

A crackling came onto his ear piece but they ignored it. "Boss." He was kissing her all over her neck. She ran a nail just above a place he _really, really_ wanted it. "Stephanie's finished. I've got her from here." He turned off the ear piece and they were out the door.

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It was difficult car ride but they managed to stay attached the whole way. He blanked the cameras, before they even got to the seventh floor hallway. They pushed of each other's jackets and he pressed in the key with her pinned to the door. When they got inside, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist.

He threw her onto the bed and stripped. He layed on top of her and ripped open her shirt, as he immediately touched his tounge to the crevice of her breasts and then her nipple. "She moaned and his eyes went even darker. He moved down to just below her navel and pulled of her pants with her undies in one swift movement. He move slowly lower and played with the inside of her leg. "Ranger." He knew exactly where she wanted it. "Not yet." He kissed her wet center and she gasped. Then he pressed to fingers inside her, then three. She moaned and arched her back. Her muscles started to contract and he could feel her reaching a peak. "Now" She pleaded. He shook his head.

Then she moved a hand down his body and pulled on his stiff. She ran it up and down and ran her tongue around it in slow motions. He groaned, "Now."


	7. Chapter 8

_Just restating the disclaimer. I own all the new characters and Janet Evanovich owns all the rest. _

_And now chapter 7._

She woke up in a tangle of warm sheets and Ranger. She looked at the clock and sighed. It was

five-thirty. She turned her head up. "Morning Babe." Then he kissed her shoulder. "Mmmmm." She sighed

contentedly and snuggled into the crook of his neck, when he pulled her tighter. " I have to go pick up Abre". She said while she rubbed a thumb on his chest affectionately. "Tank's already on it. The guys love that kid. They'll be back in ten. We need to talk." _Uh oh. That's never a good sign_. She sat up and drew her legs to herself. "Okay let's talk."

" Angel overstepped his boundaries. I told you once that if you came home with no underwear, I wouldn't be so understanding as Morelli. That I'd go looking for the guy and it wouldn't be pretty when I found him. That still stands with me. I won't be so cool, if a guy ever touches you the way he did last night." She decided to ignore her hairs bristling. "I know Ranger, I told him he was going to get himself killed." He nodded. "That said, will he still help you?" She sighed. "Honestly…I don't know. I've never seen him as hurt as he was last night. If he doesn't, then we'll find another way." She shrugged her shoulders. There was a slight pause, while Ranger took that in.

"So…does this mean you want exclusive?" She tried to sound casual. He looked down at her and smiled "Babe, I haven't been with anyone since I met you, I won't be with anyone while you're with me." He said reading her mind. I guess that was a yes. " Ax didn't seem to like him

too much either." She stood up and let him enjoy the full view. "Yeah, um…she wasn't too happy with him. Tina loves Angel, Angel loves me, and I love…someone else." That was close.

"Babe." Damn it.

"Anyways Tina always gets her heart broken and there's nothing I can do about it. I've told him that he's just a pup and that I love him as a brother, but he just won't take no for an answer. Probably, she wanted Angel here so that she could spend time with him…" He interjected. "and then he wanted to spend all of it with you." She bobbed her head. " Ax wasn't too happy with him for hurting Tina again. He knows she loves him and you saw the kiss. He leads her on."

She finished slipping on some panties and pulled a big sweatshirt over her head. "I'm going to go call the sixth floor for breakfast."

She started walking and he stood up with a pair of boxers. "Not so fast Babe." She stopped in her tracks. "Turn around. We're not done talking. What haven't you been telling me about this mission?" Her eyes become dark tunnels again. "Drop it Ranger." He was coming towards her with a dangerous look in his eyes. The one he only uses, when she's in trouble. "Babe." He closed the door and leaned a hand against it. She let all the breath out of herself. " Val…Valerie, you heard the call back at the hotel. He has her. That's why I came back. The sonofabitch found a way to force me into action. He won't let her go, if I don't give him Abre. I have to make the exchange. We'll move immediately after that. He'll be expecting us coming."

For the first time in over 19 months tears sprang to Stephanie's eyes. "I…I have to let them take her away from…me." She was gasping for breath. Battling a full blown panic attack. He brought a thumb to each cheek and wiped away the tears. She looked up into his eyes and she saw empathy there. He knew what it was like to have your daughter kidnapped.

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They started training the next week. Tank would lead a squadron behind the back. Lester and Bobby would come from each side with their own teams. They'd be up against eighty-two men in the testing building alone. Once their back up came from the main building it would be a

ratio of about nine to one.

All Rangeman employees upped their workouts. Two hours in a simulation range, instead of one hour shooting targets. They were remembering their knowledge of civilian safety. Shoot the bad guys, not the good guys or the defenseless. Battles in the sparring room and frantic healing with the medically skilled. Two thousand crunches a day and miles of jogging.

Tina and Ax had it the worst. Stephanie was kind but she was Wonder Woman now. Wonder Woman was fierce and relentless. Tina and Ax were doing at least five thousand crunches a day and even Tina was forced to get up for an eight mile jog. The boss gave them dance workouts

with spins and splits and turns. They needed to keep themselves flexible and fast. They had a different kind of target practice. They used daggers plus every kind of gun you could think of.

Stephanie was even harder on herself. Five hundred pushups and one hundred pull ups a day added to her work out, no less. Tensions were high and by the time that D-day was two months away, both leaders needed a release. Not to mention the hostilities that had been building since the day she'd spilled everything.

Stephanie was doing a particularly hard pull up session with a rope and one hand, when she spotted Ranger doing a sturdy set of one handed pushups that was getting dangerously close to one hundred. She pulled herself up once more and joined him on the matt. He didn't look at her, but he slowed for just a second so that she could get on beat.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven she counted in her head. He hit one hundred fifty, when she hit fifty and they started on a set of kick boxing. It was almost as if they had an inner beat in their heads because they were exactly in tune. _Step, punch, punch, step, step, punch, kick_. Whenever one changed the routine, the other followed effortlessly. For the second time since she got back, they were drawing a crowd. They somehow ended up turned toward each other and it became punch, block, knee, block, kick, jab.

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Ranger's POV

They started circling each other and Ranger let Stephanie attack first just to see what level they were sparring on. He'd seen the new Stephanie in action and he knew that he wouldn't go easy on her. She punched him medium hard at high speed in the chest and knocked some air out of him. _High velocity, medium strength. _

They started circling each other. Both knew that it was best to let your challenger force your opponent into a move. And she did just that. After a few seconds of straining silence, Ranger made his move. He smiled to himself. It was weird that his Babe knew how to do that.

He threw a kick at her and she brought a knee up while throwing a hook at him from the other side. He caught it and pushed it away, but she leaned forward and they were both thrown back. He'd never seen that move before…and the circling started again.

She came at him with what looked to be a punch, but ended in a kick. He stepped forward into the area of her groin with her leg still in the air, which took away from the blow. She was definitely a formidable opponent. He couldn't go easy on her. The more they blocked each other, the fiercer it became. The movements were almost impossible to see and they were becoming violent, but neither Stephanie nor Ranger was going to stop. This was a long awaited release of energy.

They ducked, squatted, turned, tucked, punched, kicked, and finally rolled. Stephanie went with a spinning under kick and knocked him over. He pulled her down with him and she landed on bottom. He pinned her, but she flipped over and the Bobby stepped in. "Okay you two. This ends here. You should see yourselves!"

They were drawn out of their coinciding trance. "We're fine Bobby." The new Babe spoke first. She rolled off of him and a tried to stand up at the same time. She limped a little. "okay…maybe not." He would've been at her side or tried to protest, but he was having trouble just pushing himself off the ground. Yep. Something was definitely wrong with his shoulder and if Stephanie was any indication of what he looked like, then they definitely needed a little patch up.

"Come on. I'll drop ya'll at the hospital." Stephanie whimpered. "No. No doctors." He sighed. "At least go see a doctor." He looked toward his Babe and judged by her pout-y face, firm stance, and crossed arms that she wasn't going to budge. "Bobby it's you or no one."

"But…"

"No protests."

He sighed again. "I don't have the kind of tools for this."

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**Stephanie's POV**

"Oww." She heard Ranger hiss from where Bobby was cleaning a nail gouge that she'd left in his right shoulder. "Big baby." She teased. "Ahh! Mrmrmmm!" She dug her nails into the seat cushion when Bobby nudged her swollen ankle with his knee. "You're just as beat up as him. That ankle is definitely sprained and there's no telling what else is hurt. You two really did a number on each other."

He tisked some more over Ranger. "Well that's about it for you. You have a stretched ligament in your left shoulder and some gouges in your right. You have a couple of bruised ribs, but you'll be alright." Then he moved toward her and touched a sore spot on her cheek. "You have a sprained ankle and bruises…everywhere. Probably in some other places that I'm sure Ranger will want to look at himself. You should keep the ankle elevated as much as possible and the bruises will fade, but you'll be fine too."

Ranger looked at her and turned to Bobby. "Out." Bobby looked from her to him and back. "Okay." He left reluctantly.

"Will you?" He looked at her intensely. "Yeah I'll be okay."

"Babe. I didn't mean physically." Aww _so here was the talk. The big speech about how you can't keep stuff bottled up._ "Nope, but denial is my friend.

"You're not the same babe I knew. I admire the new Babe. I'm proud of her, but…why? What happened to you back then? What did I miss?"

"Ranger, you have some parts of your life that are best kept secret. Please understand that I have some of my own.What's in the past is in the past. There are parts of me that are gone and are never coming back." She tried giving an answer that didn't really answer anything. "No. No evasion. The old Babe faced scary stuff head on and the new one's gonna have to learn how to also."

She got up and tried to limp to the door but he grabbed her and spun her around. "You've killed again." Flashes of terrifying nights came into her head. "Why? How many?"

A tear traced down the side of her nose. "You know that Nevaro has been chasing us. Well he's sent a couple of assassins after us too. It was them or us. For awhile there, I was alone. Tina didn't come to my rescue until things went too far for her taste. She wanted her dad to change."

She paused and took a deep breathe. "I had to stay alive. I was the only one Abre had protecting her. So I picked up my gun and I used it. I barely got out of that alive. When I woke up, I didn't know where I was. All I knew was that I was in a comfy four poster bed and from the looks of all the bandages on my body, someone had been taking care of me. Imagine my surprise when Tina and friend came walking in with Abre. The friend had medical training and he could keep a secret. Tina and Angel started training me, while I healed. They taught me how to tell the wounds that needed immediate attention from the ones that could heal on their own and how to fix them crudely. When I was strong enough, they started training me physically. Somewhere in that time, I figured out that Tina had spoken with one of the…investors…I had told you about and he was paying out the ass for us to hide in one of his secret facilities. Ax came into the picture right about then. She was a government agent sent in to keep an eye on Nevaro's work. When she saw what was happening, she turned to her superiors. They basically told her the money was more important than millions of lives. She went rogue and she already had the information on Nevaro so she looked up his daughter intending to force the information out of her. We were all in hiding, but she kept asking questions and we were afraid that she'd start asking the wrong ones…about me and Abre. Angel worked there so he slipped a note with the first letters of our street name and our coded address. She was a good detective and she found us in about two weeks. From there the rest is history. She wanted to take down Nevaro just as badly as us. Once she heard the story about Abre and how I was trying to protect her, she joined Angel and Tina. The investor had become like a father to us all in those few months. We'd only met him three times but he'd taken care of us at all times and he was providing for our safety. Other assassins were sent after us. We killed them all. Spies would send information back to S.M.I.L.E so we eliminated them too. Angel was still working for Nevaro in hopes of catching any scraps about his movements. One day he caught wind of word that Nevaro had found our location. We were gone three days before Nevaro paid his visit."

She slipped on her version of the blank face. No way was Ranger going to see her cry. "Unfortunately, River didn't have the information. We heard sometime later that our mentor was dead." Detachment, no emotion. "We were running out of places to hide and we were to angry to run anymore. We needed a safe place to train and you're still number one on my speed dial. You know the rest."

"Babe."_ I'm sorry about your father. I should have been there to protect you. Your team is safe here._ "I know. So doctor I'm apparently in need of inspection…".

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There was a little screaming elf in her ear. "Mmm…no running, Ranger, iss night." She slurred He chuckled. "Babe, it's ten o'clock in the morning. Your phone is ringing." Still too early. Ranger had thoroughly checked every aching part of her body, 'til 4 in the morning. "What?" She growled into the phone.

"Stephanie? I need a ride to the showing tonight. Everyone's talking about it. I'll be the only one without the skinny at the beauty parlor! I'll be out of the loop!" Geez.

"Mother is that Stephanie? Tell her to come to dinner. Tell her I'm making pot roast. Tell her if brings Joe, I'll make pine…pineapple…" Stephanie was sure she heard a squeak and something like the swish of a bottle. "Helen, Stephanie isn't dating the cop anymore. She's with that black man with the fine package." _Hiccup_. "I'm sure she'd rather test out…" Uhoh. "Grandma! I'll take you to the viewing. Who is it anyway?"

"Grandma Bella." _Thud. _Huh, look at that she'd dropped the phone. "Joe's grandma?" Apparently, grandma hadn't noticed anything on her side of the phone, because she just kept rambling. "She died of a heart attack this morning. It was very sudden…" Joe's Grandma. "Anyways you'd better come to dinner tonight. I don't know if you noticed but your mother's been tippling again. Bring your Bounty Hunter friend." Okay. Wait a minute! She said that out loud. "Bye, Stephanie." No-no-no! _Click. _

"Babe?" _Joes Grandma?_ "I'm taking grandma to her viewing tonight", she got out of bed slowly. Maybe, if she just acted normal, he wouldn't sense anything was wrong. She threw on a t-shirt. "and-we're-going-to-dinner-at-six." With that she pulled on her shorts and bolted out of the room.

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She was really just hiding from Ranger but she decided a jog wouldn't hurt. She put on her sneakers and she'd kept running until she was here. The benches and the pathway had become oh so familiar and she was beginning to think of it as her normal route.

Normal. Familiar. Getting back to the way things were. No more death, no more scary assassins. No, she didn't want that. She had Abre. She was her light and her life. Not to mention the way things were going with Ranger and the girls! She would miss the girls.

Nope, she'd just have to fight for what she had…and for all Nevaro's prisoners…and all of his victims…and for all his future victims. She'd fight, but she had to tie up some loose ends first…


End file.
